All employers are encouraged to advertise job vacancies, and ensure that these jobs are open to Singaporeans

Employers making new Employment Pass (EP) applications must advertise the job vacancy on a new job portal to be administered by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency. The job advertisement must

be open to Singaporeans;

comply with the tri-partite guidelines on fair employment practices; and

must run for a minimum of 14 days

Exemptions

Employers with less than 25 employees, or job positions with a monthly salary of SGD 12,000 or more are exempted from the advertising requirement described in paragraph 3. However, restrictions outlined in paragraph 5 may be imposed if complaints about discriminatory practices are received by the MOM.

Possible Actions by the MOM

Firms which have a disproportionate number of EP holders, or who continue to adopt discriminatory practices may be put under additional scrutiny and be asked to furnish additional information such as:

organization charts outlining the nationality of various employees

the recruitment process

staff grievance handling procedures

framework for staff progression

plans to develop local staff and plans to reduce reliance on EP holders

The Ministry of Manpower may impose additional requirements on employers who fail to show sufficient progress. Such requirements may include:

attestation that the employer will not displace any similarly employed Singaporean within 60 days before or after applying or renewing EPs

display a factsheet containing key information submitted to the MOM at the workplace

greater scrutiny and longer review of EP applications

curtailment of work pass privileges

Qualifying Salary for new EP Applications

The qualifying salary for new EP applications will be raised from SGD 3,000 to SGD 3,300 in January 2014.

Transitional Measures

To help employers manage the changes, the following transitional measures have been introduced:

All new EP applications are subject to the new qualifying salaries from 1 Jan 2014

For existing EP holders, the new requirements will be phased in over the next 2 to 3 years as follows: